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Wearing their colours proudly: The school the Bulldogs have helped build. Photo: Supplied
This is the school in the New Ireland province of Papua New Guinea that the Bulldogs helped to build.
Led by Canterbury welfare manager Steve Pike, current and former Bulldogs players have been making an annual pilgrimage to Papua New Guinea since 2012 to work on community projects in remote areas.
This year the group, which included Corey Hughes, Adam Peek, Daniel Holdsworth and former Melbourne prop Brian Norrie, helped repair and rebuild two school buildings on tiny Enuk Island, which is located 850 kilometres from Port Moresby.
Warm welcome: Local school children welcome present and former Bulldogs. Photo: Supplied
While there, they also attended the official opening of the Nehemiah Christian School in Kavieng, where Canterbury players have previously assisted with construction.
"Leo Badcock, who is one of the club's sponsors, owns the Kavieng Hotel and he and his wife also own the land where they have built the school," Pike said.
"They built two classrooms and have painted them all blue and white, and put up murals with a Bulldogs theme.
Helping the locals: Brian Norrie, Daniel Holdsworth, Adam Peek, Corey Hughes and Steve Pike (top right) in the New Ireland province of Papua New Guinea. Photo: Supplied
"When we were first there the first building was still getting constructed, the second year the second building was getting constructed and now in the fourth year everything is finished and they have got 42 students in there."
While the local government provided most of the funding to build the school, there is little doubt in rugby league-obsessed PNG that the involvement of the Bulldogs helped to secure the grants.
The trip was sponsored by former Canberra Raiders player Tim van Dalen and his Australian Vocational Training Academy, which conducts business, fitness and youth work courses for NRL and Super Rugby clubs.
Players who have been involved in the project include Moses Mbye, Steve Turner, Tim Browne, Martin Taupau, Leilani Latu, Paul Carter, Lachlan Burr and Mitch Brown, along with former Bulldogs Mark O'Meley, Luke Patten and Brad Morrin.
In 2013, Canterbury players assisted Australian Doctors International in the renovation and repair of health clinics at Lemakot and Taskul.
While in PNG, the players also conduct coaching clinics and promote the importance of education, healthy lifestyles and respect for women and children, for whom it has only recently become compulsory to attend school.
Hughes, who is a carpenter, and Peek, who is a roof plumber, are NRL Trade Up mentors, while Holdsworth is an NRL School to Work mentor and Norrie – an electrician – now works for Cronulla as the Sharks welfare manager.
"They had some building skills already, even though a lot of the work we were doing was pretty rudimentary and involved mostly labouring," Pike said. "The guys said they loved it and thought it was sensational. They got their hands dirty, but also saw an exotic part of the world they probably wouldn't have thought of visiting and got to experience the way other people live.
"If you go to these places you see the kids have got sand floors, open windows, chalk boards, no computers, pencils and slate sort of thing, and a lot of their classrooms are outside, but they are happy to see footballers, they are happy to run around with no shoes and kick a footy around
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...dogs-built-20151106-gksis4.html#ixzz3qtMEpKDw
